BusinessMirror February 06, 2022

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Going TNT during the Great Resignation

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By Malou Talosig-Bartolome

T had been six months since Stephen (not his real name) returned to the Philippines. He was supposed to work for seven months on a luxury liner in the Mediterranean Sea, but all of them who are crew members were told to come home earlier than expected in June 2020. The ship management was a bit considerate, though. He was paid a month of his lost salary. But all of those savings were going down the drain.

Every day, he would pray that the manning agency would call him again and offer him a chance to go back to work. Meanwhile, he was forced to sell his AUV for a song, as he begged the buyer to just take over his assumed balance of P800,000. He is desperate. He sold longganisa, danggit, dried pusit and even ukay-ukay online. Still, the income would not pay the other bills.

Then he saw his passport, and it had a stamped valid US tourist visa.

Stephen called his brother-inlaw in California and asked about their life there. “So many people are getting sick from Covid-19,” his brother-in-law said. “And a lot don’t want to go to work anymore.

They will get sick anyway.”

“Really?” Stephen asked. “Can I go there to work?”

“Sure! As long as you are not picky. A store next to ours pays US$14 per hour and still no takers.”

There are many Filipinos like Stephen who have since taken their chances to the US, despite the hazards of being infected with Covid-19. Since the pandemic began, the US Embassy in Manila closed its consular office. But there are those like Stephen who still have valid multiple-entry tourist visas.

The elite flew to the US to take the first crack of US-made Covid-19 mRNA vaccines which were not available to the Philippines during the first months of 2021. But there were those, like Stephen, who actively sought out jobs—jobs that are just there, because locals were resigning in droves during the pandemic, a phenomenon happening in many first-world countries and that has since been called The Great Resignation.

How it began

JUST like the rest of the world, the US economy was hit by Covid-19.

Industries that depend on the traffic of people such as food, airlines, retail, transportation, travel, entertainment, live sports, ship-

EMMANUEL GESLANI: “In 39 states, there are more jobs than people seeking work. Factors such as lower immigration, more workers taking early retirement and generous unemployment benefits all have contributed to the labor shortage.” PH.LINKEDIN.COM/IN/

A CAR passes a hiring banner in Sacramento, California, Friday, July 16, 2021. AP/RICH PEDRONCELLI

EMMANUEL-GESLANI-43206330

ping, cruise lines, gyms, theme parks, oil and gas, and construction felt the crunch. To survive, some had to close shop. Those that survived had to fire people or reduce manpower hours.

“To keep employees safe, and to minimize liability—majority of their staff had to work from home and, in the process, save money,” Brad Baldia, president of the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia, told the BusinessMirror in a phone interview.

However, employees who had toiled for years found themselves thinking (or rethinking) about their work and life goals.

Thus in 2021, the US saw an unprecedented number of workers resigning, especially those age 25 and 45, in “The Great Resignation.”

“People are trying to come to grips. What do they want to get out of their job? They want to provide for their family. But at the same time they want to find some balance. This is especially true for those who lost their loved ones and friends,” Baldia explained. It also helped that those who were unemployed get their welfare benefits.

Companies, too, are transitioning to the new normal. They want their employees to work from home, and yet they want to make

A HUMAN-RESOURCES recruiter talks to an applicant during a job fair at Hard Rock Stadium, September 3, 2021, in Miami Gardens, Florida. AP/MARTA LAVANDIER

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 51.0410

A HIRING sign for McDonald’s is seen on a building in Columbia County, Georgia, March 4, 2021. BILLY BLUME | DREAMSTIME.COM

sure they are accountable. They badly need them back to the office or store but they are not sure how long the pandemic will last, so they are holding on to their cash in case there will be surges again and more restrictions are imposed on them.

While uncertainty hangs in the balance among employers and employees in the US, there are those from developing countries like the Philippines who are desperate just to bring food to the table. There are practically no unemployment benefits and whether they are in the Philippines or elsewhere overseas, the threat of Covid-19 is still there.

“We are seeing a mass migration to the US because of what’s happening to the Philippines,” Baldia said. “There are a lot of opportunities here.”

Baldia said the US economy has seen a major pivot despite the pandemic and it seems that the Philippines is still grappling to recover.

Besides having a good facility of the English language, Filipinos

who work in the US generally become successful regardless of their background because there are family members in the US who can help them adjust to the way of living.

“There are really strong ties between the Philippines and the US,” he said.

Doctors, nurses in demand

THE biggest demand for Filipino workers in the US at the moment, he said, are for doctors and nurses.

“All those doctors and nurses are aging out. There is a huge need for that. Aside from those who are retiring, many are also impacted by Covid,” he added.

Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez estimates that there are about 100,000 work visas waiting for the Philippine nurses to the US. These are already approved visas on the side of the US, but could not be processed here in the Philippines due to the deployment cap imposed by the Department of Labor for healthcare workers.

Before the pandemic, Filipino nurses already represented the top foreign nurses in the US, pegged at around 150,000 to 200,000.

Romualdez said while there are a lot of job opportunities in the US, he insisted that Filipinos who would like to try their luck there should get work visas, or risk getting deported or falling into the hands of abusive employers.

“The jobs available are workers, teachers and other essential work where many Americans are burned out or don’t want to go back. But of course how you can qualify, you cannot simply qualify—you need a work visa,” he added.

According to the US Department of Labor, there are 11 million jobs available in the US as of December 2021. Emmanuel Geslani, a migration expert, said based on his research, these are the jobs in the US which are the most in demand last year: • Business Development and Sales • Workplace Diversity • Digital Marketing • Digital Content • Education • Professional and Personal Coaching • Mental Health • Engineering “In 39 states, there are more jobs than people seeking work.

Factors such as lower immigration, more workers taking early retirement and generous unemployment benefits all have contributed to the labor shortage,” Geslani said.

For those who don’t want to leave their families behind but still want to earn dollars, there are companies in the US which are hiring services remotely. There are consultancies and services that can be done remotely,” and a lot of companies which are doing well in the US like the technology or medical institutions which can hire you as contractors. “The thing is, you have to be strategic and see how you can fit with the needs of companies here,” Baldia said.

As for Stephen, he has worked from one store to another and fast-food chain to another. His six-month tourist visa is about to expire. Good news is, his manning agency has already called and offered him his old job in the cruise industry. Life in the US, meanwhile, at the very least saved his family during the first wave of the pandemic.

n JAPAN 0.4440 n UK 69.4311 n HK 6.5498 n CHINA 8.0140 n SINGAPORE 37.9854 n AUSTRALIA 36.4433 n EU 58.4011 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.6051

Source: BSP (February 4, 2022)

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, February 6, 2022

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Japan border policy keeps thousands of foreigners in limbo

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By Mari Yamaguchi | The Associated Press

OKYO —More than a year ago Sebastian Bressa finished his paperwork to become a language teacher in Tokyo and made plans to quit his job in Sydney. His life has been in limbo ever since.

Japan has kept its door closed to most foreigners during the pandemic, and the 26-year-old Australian is one of hundreds of thousands denied entry to study, work or see their families.

Japan has become one of the world’s most difficult countries to enter and some are comparing it to the locked country, or sakoku, policy of xenophobic warlords who ruled Japan in the 17th to 19th centuries.

The current border rules allow in only Japanese nationals and permanent foreign residents, and have raised the ire of foreign students and scholars who say the measures are unfair, unscientific and force talented visitors to go to other countries. Critics say the rules are also hurting Japan’s international profile and national interest.

About half a million foreigners—including academics, researchers and others with highly skilled jobs and 150,000 foreign students—have been affected, various statistics show.

“I think the most difficult thing for me has been this state of living in standby,” Bressa said. He has been unable to commit himself to any long-term plans with his

family, friends or even at work. “I can’t plan that far ahead in the future, just not knowing where I end up the next month or two.”

Frustrated students have gathered near Japanese diplomatic compounds around the world to protest.

In Spain’s second-largest city of Barcelona, Laura Vieta stood outside of the Japanese Consulate last week, holding up a sign saying “Stop Japan’s Travel Ban.” “I gave up my job because I thought I was going to Japan in September,” said Vieta, 25, who wants to study Japanese at a private school for six months or longer. “As you can see, I’m still here.”

Record surges

JAPAN plans to keep the border measures in place through the end of February as it copes with a record surge of cases in Tokyo and other major cities. Makoto Shimoaraiso, a Cabinet official working on Japan’s Covid-19 response, said the situation is painful but he asked for patience, noting much higher infection levels overseas.

Japan recently decided to let nearly 400 students enter, but

PASSENGERS walk through the ticketing counter floor for international flights at the Narita International Airport in Narita, east of Tokyo, on December 2, 2021. Hundreds of thousands of foreigners have been denied entry to study, work or visit families in Japan, which has kept its doors closed to most overseas visitors during the pandemic. AP

many others, including those on foreign government-sponsored scholarships, still cannot get in.

A letter to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, signed by hundreds of academics and Japan experts and submitted last month in a petition

LAURA VIETA, right, and Cinta Bazan take part in protest in front of the Japanese consulate in Barcelona, Spain on Thursday, February 3, 2022. They loved Japanese culture so much that they both made sacrifices to study Japanese language, with long-term plans to relocate to the country and start careers there. The two women were the only protesters that showed up at the gates of the Japanese consulate in Barcelona, each of them carrying a self-printed sign reading “Stop Japan Ban.” Their protest responded to online calls for similar action at embassies and consulates in different corners of the world. AP

drive, called for a relaxation of the border controls to enable educators, students and scholars to pursue their studies and work in Japan.

It said many already have given up Japan studies, opting to focus elsewhere, such as South Korea.

“They become the bridges between Japan and other societies.

They are future policymakers, business leaders, and teachers. They are the foundation of the US-Japan alliance and other international relationships that support Japan’s core national interests,” the letter said.

“The closure is harming Japan’s national interests and international relationships.”

Japan is not the only country imposing strict border controls, but the policy is drawing criticism from within Kishida’s governing party and from the business community.

Taro Kono, an outspoken lawmaker who has studied at Georgetown University and served as foreign and defense minister, urged that the government “reopen the country so that students and others waiting for an entry can have a future outlook and make plans.”

Masakazu Tokura, head of Japan’s powerful business organization Keidanren, recently said the border measures were “unrealistic” and are disrupting business. He called for a quick end to “the locked country situation.”

On Thursday, the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, the European Business Council in Japan and the International Bankers Association of Japan, in a joint statement, said the entry ban “has imposed real and increasing economic and human costs.”

They urged the government

to “quickly adopt a science-based entry policy” to accept vaccinated business travelers, students, teachers and separated family members.

However, the border controls have wide public support. Many Japanese tend to think troubles such as the pandemic come from outside their island nation.

Tightening border controls quickly after Omicron outbreaks began overseas may have been unavoidable, Nippon University crisis management professor Mitsuru Fukuda said, but the decision to exclude only foreigners appears aimed at rallying public support.

With careful preventive measures, Japan could allow foreign visitors just as many other countries are doing, he said.

“Crisis management is for the protection of people’s daily lives and happiness, and people should not have to compromise their freedom and human rights in exchange for their lives,” Fukuda said.

Japan’s coronavirus cases plunged as Delta variant infections subsided in the fall, and Kishida has said closing the border to most foreign travelers in late November helped delay the latest surge in infections. He contends that overreacting is better than doing too little, too late.

He was likely taking a lesson from his predecessor, Yoshihide Suga, who stepped aside after only a year in office partly due to his administration’s perceived weak handling of the pandemic.

Japan has just begun giving booster shots, but only 3.5 percent of the population have received them, and the medical system has been inadequately prepared for the latest huge wave of cases, leaving

many sick with Covid-19 to isolate at home.

The border closures did not keep Omicron out of US military bases, where Japan has no jurisdiction, including troops that fly directly into the country without observing Japanese quarantine requirements.

They were not tested for weeks, until Tokyo asked them to.

Clusters of cases among US troops rapidly spread into neighboring communities, including those in Okinawa, home to the majority of the 50,000 American troops in Japan, beginning in late December. Infections at US bases exceeded 6,000 last month.

On Wednesday, Japan reported nearly 95,000 new confirmed cases, a record, and Tokyo’s cases exceeded 20,000 for the first time.

Some pandemic restrictions are now in effect in much of Japan, including Tokyo and other big cities like Osaka and Kyoto, for the first time since September.

Phillip Lipscy, a political science professor at Toronto University in Canada who is part of the petition drive, said he was denied entry despite his Japanese roots and his dedication to the study of Japan.

“I grew up in Japan. I am a native speaker of the language, my mother is Japanese and she lives in Tokyo. But under the current policy I cannot enter Japan because of the color of my passport,” Lipscy told an online meeting.

With the outlook uncertain, many people are changing their studies or careers, he said.

“These are fateful decisions with long-term consequences,” he said. “The border closure is depriving Japan of a generation of admirer, friends and allies.”

The World

BusinessMirror ‘22 must see action on oceans, biodiversity and plastics–EU Editor: Angel R. Calso

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NITED NATIONS—The European Union’s (EU) environment chief said Thursday that 2022 must be the year for an ambitious agreement on the oceans, for action that protects the world’s biodiversity, and for starting negotiations to tackle the global crisis of plastic pollution especially at sea.

Virginijus Sinkevicius, the EU commissioner for environment, oceans and fisheries, told a UN news conference that precious time to save nature and the oceans has been lost over the past two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the 27-member bloc is determined to move ahead quickly to steer “a global green transition.”

“This year must be the year of the oceans. This year must be the year of biodiversity.… (and) it is essential to get plastics under control and the only way to do it is globally,” he said. “This year we must find a window of opportunity to reach agreements that will change the world for better.”

Sinkevicius said a top priority for the EU is to reach “a Paris moment for biodiversity”—like that in Paris in 2015 when world leaders reached the landmark climate agreement, which set a target of keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times.

The world has already warmed 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) since that time.

“Without acting on this front, we won’t succeed in solving the climate crisis,” he warned, “Because the finest technologies to solve the climate crisis are not sophisticated machines. They are trees, oceans and healthy ecosystems.”

The Lithuanian politician said that at the 15th conference of parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming, China from April 25 to May 9 there must be “a genuinely transformative moment for biodiversity, and this requires a strong political engagement from all at the highest level.”

The most important outcome at that conference should be agreement to protect 30 percent of the planet’s land and oceans by 2030, and also restore degraded ecosystems, he said. This requires additional funding, and the EU Commission has doubled

funding for biodiversity, which means a billion euros a year, he said, and it is looking to similar action from other countries and the private sector.

On oceans, Sinkevicius said, the EU will launch a coalition to support major negotiations for an ambitious agreement on the high seas at the One Ocean Summit in Brest, France organized by French President Emmanuel Macron and the EU from February 9 to 11.

“And we hope to welcome the US and many other countries on board,” said the EU commissioner, who visited Washington before coming to the UN for meetings.

That meeting will be followed by a conference on oceans on April 13 and 14 in the Pacific island nation of Palau, a biodiversity hotspot about 970 kilometers east of the Philippines, with 20,000 people scattered across a 250-island tropical archipelago. The EU commissioner said the meeting will focus on illegal, underreported and unregulated fishing as well as climate issues facing island nations.

The main event this year is the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon from June 27 to July 1 where Sinkevicius said “the European Union is determined to reach an ambitious agreement on the high seas” with strong monitoring.

“These negotiations are a oncein-a-generation opportunity to protect the ocean, and it was very encouraging to discuss with our American friends our common determination to reach a successful conclusion still this year,” he said.

Sinkevicius said about 140 countries are calling for a negotiating committee to be established to reach a global agreement on controlling plastic pollution, and more than 70 of them said it should be legally binding. He said he thinks global plastics regulations will also be welcomed by businesses so they don’t have to deal with very high standards in one region and much lower ones in another.

Sinkevicius said he was pleased that his American counterparts are as keen as the EU is to see these negotiations launched at the resumed fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi from February 28 to March 2.

Private Pentagon report shows hurdles to hypersonic weapons

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he Pentagon doesn’t have enough wide-open spaces on its missile test ranges to thoroughly evaluate new hypersonic weapons for the US, according to the military’s testing office.

It also lacks key capabilities to adequately test the threat from incoming versions that adversaries, including China and Russia are developing.

The hypersonics evaluation, cont a i ned i n t he non- publ ic version of the Pentagon test office’s annual report obtained

by Bloomberg News, is a reality check on the defense department’s plans to boost spending and speed development of the new weapons that can travel five times the speed of sound and maneuver in flight like a cruise missile.

The report comes as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his deput y, K at h leen Hic k s, a re sc hedu led to meet v i r t u a l ly Thursday with about 14 defense contractor chief executive officers for a discussion “on hypersonic development” and other issues, according to spokesman

John Kirby. “It is part of a regular drumbeat.”

The report f lags a range of other bottlenecks in US efforts to prepare for the next-generation weapons.

Existing US test ranges from Hawaii to Virginia that have corridors clear of civilians and commercial air traffic will be overwhelmed by an increase of more than 50 percent in demand by 2025 unless they’re expanded, according to the assessment labeled “Controlled Unclassified Information.”

In addition, the report found that the defense department must improve modeling and simulation of attacks by adversaries because it’s unable to adequately show that it could achieve the necessar y “early detection of incoming missiles and effective tracking” and interception.

The Pentagon can’t adequately represent the threat from a hypersonic missile in testing “and needs to continue to pursue the representation of these environments in model and simulation and live fire testing,” it said.

Bloomberg News

Sunday, February 6, 2022

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Myanmar plans its own digital currency in ‘22 to lift economy

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yanmar’s military government plans to establish a digital currency to support domestic payments and boost the economy within the year and is assessing how to move forward, according to a top spokesman of the State Administration Council.

“We are undecided whether we should do it as a joint venture with local companies or by the government alone,” said Major General Zaw Min Tun, who is deputy information minister in the junta that toppled civilian government a year ago. “A digital currency will help improve financial activities in Myanmar.”

The World Bank estimates Myanmar’s economy shrank 18 percent in the fiscal year ended in September 2021, and forecasts growth of just 1 percent through September this year. Myanmar’s economy could have been 30 percent larger without the twin blows of the pandemic and coup, the international lender said in a report last week.

News of the State Administration Council’s proposal comes two months after a group led by supporters of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi recognized Tether as an “official currency” for use in a fund-raising campaign that seeks to topple the military regime. Suu Kyi is currently in jail serving time for a slew of charges.

Central banks around the world have been working for years to develop digital currencies, with some planning to deploy them for retail transactions and others opting to restrict them to interbank use. China, whose digital yuan project is among the most advanced, has been developing it since at least 2014.

“We think the country is not in

A man crosses an empty Pansodan street in Kyauktada township in Yangon, Myanmar on February 1. Myanmar’s military government is planning to establish a digital currency to support domestic payments. AP

the best position to be able to pursue something like this,” Kim Edwards, the World Bank’s senior economist for Myanmar, said at a news conference last week. It would need a very good regulatory structure and high capacity within the administration to make it happen, he said.

The director-general of Central Bank of Myanmar’s currency-management department, Win Myint, said “at this point, we are still learning about digital currencies and having discussions. We need to consider

both pros and cons.”

Myanmar isn’t the only ailing economy mulling crytpo projects.

The Venezuelan National Assembly last month accepted for consideration a bill to establish provisions for digital-currency transactions.

Inflation in bolivars, the local currency, has slowed to an annual pace of 53 percent in the past three months, down from well north of 1,000 percent in recent years, according to a Bloomberg index.

Bloomberg News

A different Covid-19 vaccine debate: Do we need new ones?

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ovid-19 vaccines are saving an untold number of lives, but they can’t stop the chaos when a hugely contagious new mutant bursts on the scene, leading people to wonder: Will we need boosters every few months? A new vaccine recipe? A new type of shot altogether?

That’s far from settled, but with the shots still doing their main job many experts are cautioning against setting too high a bar.

“We need collectively to be rethinking what is the goal of vaccination,” said Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes, infectious disease chief at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. “It’s unrealistic ... to believe that any kind of vaccination is going to protect people from infection, from mild symptomatic disease, forever.”

If the goal is preventing serious illness, “we may not need to be doing as much fine-tuning of the vaccines every time a new variant comes.”

The virus is essentially shapeshifting as it mutates, with no way to know how bad the next variant will be. Already a sub-strain of Omicron bearing its own unique mutations is circulating. Research is underway to create next-generation vaccines that might offer broader protection against future mutants—but they won’t be ready anytime soon.

The immediate solution: Getting today’s shots into more arms will “reduce the opportunities for the virus to mutate and spawn new Greek letters that we then have to worry about,” said Jennifer Nuzzo of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Why Immunity Isn’t Perfect

The job of blocking infection falls to antibodies, which form after either vaccination or a prior bout with Covid-19, ready to fight back the next time someone’s exposed.

One problem: Mutations change the appearance of the spike protein that covers the coronavirus much like a crook switches disguises to evade capture. That’s why Omicron was more able to slip past that first

In this photo provided by Pfizer, a technician inspects filled vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the company’s facility in Puurs, Belgium in March 2021. Covid-19 vaccines are saving an untold number of lives but they can’t stop the chaos when a hugely contagious new mutant bursts on the scene, leading people to wonder: Will we need boosters every few months? A new vaccine recipe? A new type of shot altogether? Pfizer via AP

defense than earlier variants—its spike coating was harder for existing antibodies to recognize.

Also, the immune system isn’t designed to be in a constant state of high alert, so the antibodies that fend off infection do wane over time. Several months after two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, people had little protection against an Omicron infection—a result of both waning antibodies and the variant’s mutation.

Thankfully, different immune system soldiers called T cells are key to prevent an infection from turning into severe illness—and that protection is lasting longer because T cells are recognizing other parts of the virus that don’t mutate as easily.

A Third Dose Matters

A fter a booster, protection against sy mptomatic d isease from omicron is about 70 percent—not as good as the 94 percent protection seen with earlier variants that more closely matched the vaccine yet highly effective. Importantly, the booster also further strengthened protection against serious illness.

Researchers are closely tracking if infection-fighting antibodies stick around longer after a third dose—but at some point, those levels are guaranteed to wane again.

So-called memory cells can make more the next time the body senses

they’re needed.

Still, Israel is offering a fourth dose to some people, including those 60 and older, and mulling over giving the additional booster to all adults.

The debate is whether repeated boosting really is the best approach—especially since scary new variants are less likely to form once more of the world’s population gets initial vaccinations.

Endless boosting just to keep antibody levels constantly high is “not a public health strategy that works,” said Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Pfizer and Moderna are testing Omicron-specific boosters in some American adults, although it’s far from clear if authorities would abandon a vaccine recipe proven to save lives for a tweaked version in hopes of fewer breakthrough infections.

Brewing a single shot with two kinds of vaccine is technically possible but, again, they’d have to prove the mixture doesn’t weaken the original protection against severe illness.

New Approaches In The Pipeline

Whatever happens with Omicron, it’s clear the coronavirus is here to stay and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is funding about $43 million in projects to develop so-called “pan-coronavi-

rus” vaccines that promise to protect against more than one type.

One possibility: Nanoparticles that carry pieces of spike proteins from four to eight different versions of the virus rather than the single type in today’s vaccines.

It’s a tantalizing idea, but NIH infectious diseases chief Dr. Anthony Fauci called it a years-long endeavor. “I don’t want anyone to think that pan-coronavirus vaccines are literally around the corner,” he said.

A possibly more direct approach: Creating Covid-19 vaccines that can be squirted into the nose to form antibodies ready to fight the virus right where we first encounter it. Nasal vaccines are harder to develop than injected versions but attempts are underway, including a large study just announced by India’s Bharat Biotech.

Protection Varies Globally

Compl icat ing any possible change to vaccine strategy is the grim reality that only 10 percent of people in low-income countries have received at least one vaccine dose. Also, recent studies show that some types of vaccines used around the world appear easier than others for Omicron to evade, meaning booster strategies may need to be tailored.

Yale University researchers found no Omicron-targeted antibodies in the blood of people given two doses of vaccine made by China’s Sinovac. Following those initial shots with a Pfizer booster—a very different kind of vaccine—helped but not enough, only increasing antibody levels to the amount seen by Pfizer recipients who didn’t get a booster.

Overshadowing all of these questions is that “we don’t know how to predict the next strain,” said Dr. Jesse Goodman of Georgetown University, a former Food and Drug Administration vaccine chief. He wants to see a global strategy that defines the trigger for any vaccine change.

“Otherwise we are going to have a confused public, again.” AP

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The World BusinessMirror

Sunday, February 6, 2022

A hopeful sign? Despite Russian warning, Ukraine talks still go on

By Vladimir Isachenkov & Matthew Lee

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The Associated Press

OSCOW—When the US and Nato rejected the Kremlin’s security demands over Ukraine last week, fears of an imminent Russian attack against its neighbor soared.

But instead of sending armored armadas across the Ukrainian border as the US and its allies worried, Moscow bombarded Western capitals with diplomatic letters about an international agreement that the Kremlin sees as a strong argument for its position in the standoff.

Even though President Vladimir Putin said a month ago that he wanted a quick answer to the Russian demands and warned that Moscow would not accept “idle talk,” earlier this week he signaled an apparent readiness for more talks with Washington and Nato.

And that offers a glimmer of hope. Although more than 100,000 Russian troops still hover near Ukraine and weeks of talks have led to no major concessions by either side, at least Russia and the West keep talking, and for some experts that’s a reason for cautious optimism.

“On the one hand Putin did fire rhetorical barbs against the West and emphasized perceived slights; on the other hand he also did leave open the possibility of talking in more detail about at least some of the issues where the West has been willing to engage,” said Jeff Rathke, a former US diplomat and president of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

“We’re kind of where we were a few weeks ago,” Rathke said.

“Putin has kept his options open.

He’s not ruled out talks but also not reduced his strident rhetoric.”

Russia and the West remain far

apart on the most critical issues and it’s unclear how a compromise could be reached. But the Kremlin’s recent emphasis on diplomacy appears to reflect Putin’s hope to achieve his goals through negotiations while using the deployment of the troops near Ukraine as leverage.

“Russia will maintain a tough stand while indicating that it’s not shutting the door to talks,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, who heads the Moscow-based Council for Foreign and Defense Policies and closely follows the Kremlin thinking. “Such complex agreements aren’t reached in a relaxing atmosphere over a cup of tea, so all methods of persuasion are being used, including the demonstration of force.”

Russia maintains it has no intention to attack its neighbor, but it demands that Nato bar membership to Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations and pledge not to deploy weapons there. It also wants Nato deployments in Eastern Europe rolled back.

The US and its allies flatly rejected those demands as “nonstarters” during a series of talks last month, but Moscow demanded a written reply, fueling suspicions that it wanted a formal rejection of its demands to use as an argument for sending troops into Ukraine.

The US and Nato handed their response to Moscow on Jan. 26, ruling out any concessions on Russia’s main demands but holding the door open for talks on other issues, including limits on offensive missile deployments, greater

transparency of military drills and other confidence-building measures.

Putin has yet to formulate his response to the Western proposals, but his diplomats have warned it will be difficult to achieve any progress on those issues if the West continues to stonewall Moscow’s main demands.

The deadlock has fueled fears of imminent hostilities, and in a phone call last week US President Joe Biden warned Ukraine’s president that there is a “distinct possibility” Russia will invade in February.

Moscow appears to have opted for a diplomatic track for now and US officials in recent days have toned down their rhetoric about “imminence.” But the US has not backed away from the urgency of its concerns.

On Monday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sent new letters to his Western counterparts, countering Nato’s argument that ever y countr y has the right to choose alliances. He charged that the alliance’s expansion contradicts its obligation not to strengthen its security at Russia’s expense.

Lavrov said the US, and its allies have pledged to respect the “ indivisibility of security” in documents signed at summits of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the main trans-Atlantic security grouping.

“There must be security for all or there will be no security for anyone,” Lavrov wrote, noting that his ministry would now wait for formal replies to his letter before advising Putin on next moves.

The exchange of letters could set the stage for a long series of arcane arguments about conflicting interpretations of the OSCE documents, and Putin expressed readiness for such discussions.

In his first public remarks on the standoff since late December, the Russian leader noted Tuesday that while the West rejects Russia’s key demands, diplomatic efforts should continue. “I hope that we will eventually find a solution, although we realize

that it’s not going to be easy,” Putin said.

The patient stand contrasted with Putin’s statement in December that he wants a quick Western reply and could order unspecified “military-technical measures” if the US and its allies continue to ignore Moscow’s concerns.

Putin made no mention of any such measures in his comments this week, saying that “we need to find a way to ensure interests and security of all parties, including Ukraine, European nations and Russia.”

Along with the talks with the US and Nato, Russia also engaged in separate negotiations on a stalled 2015 peace deal for eastern Ukraine. A four-way meeting in Paris between presidential envoys from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany didn’t produce immediate progress, but they will meet again in Berlin this month.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who has spoken to Putin three times since last Friday, said he’s open to visiting Russia to help defuse tensions, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also announced his plans to travel to Moscow soon.

Lukyanov said Russia will likely keep flexing its military muscle to demonstrate its resolve. He noted that Russia could easily afford keeping troops near Ukraine for a long time and will continue a series of drills to maintain pressure on the West.

“Troops may come and go,” Lukyanov said. “It’s relatively cheap and within the funds already earmarked for combat training.”

The drills include sweeping joint war games with Russia’s ally Belarus, which borders Ukraine to the north, and Lukyanov predicted that Russia could further beef up its defense ties with the country.

Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has edged closer to Moscow after being hit with Western sanctions over his crackdown on dissent, already has offered to host Russian nuclear weapons.

“Belarus will be an important element in the game,” Lukyanov said. AP

Treasury market selloff grows with global bond yields rising

T

he US Trea su r y m a r ket wa s h it by a re newed round of selling as sharply rising European bond yields underscored the growing hawkish chorus among the world ’s major central banks in the face of surging inf lation.

The drop in Treasuries extended global bond losses Thursday, when benchmark UK and German 10-year yields jumped more than 10 basis points after the Bank of England and the European Central Bank held policy meetings and signaled patent unease about elevated inflation pressure. The German 10-year yield, which had been below zero until this week, jumped to around 0.15 percent, weakening what had been an anchor on Treasury yields as European investors shifted money to the US to get positive returns.

The renewed selling pressure swept across the US bond market, where the 10-year Treasury yield rose as much as 7 basis points to 1.85 percent. The 30 -year yield also rose as much as 7 basis points to 2.18 percent. Ahead of Asian markets opening on Friday, Treasury benchmark yields remained near their highs from the prior session.

A sustained rise above zero for the German bund is seen paving the way for a test of 2 percent and higher in the 10-year Treasury.

“There is no question that all central banks realize they are behind the curve due to higher inflation and bond markets have woken up to that,” said William O’Donnell, strategist at Citigroup Inc. “The U.K started the selling in Treasuries and then it was followed by bund yields moving higher.”

The drop adds to what has already been a painful year for bondholders, with the hawkish pivot from Federal Reserve driving the Bloomberg Treasury index to loss of 1.9 percent in January, its worst start since 2009.

Prices had largely settled since late last month, however, with traders wagering that the market had adjusted to the coming monetary policy shift by pricing in five quarter-point hikes from the Fed this year. Confidence had also been bolstered by the solid demand at recent auctions for Treasuries, whose relatively higher yields have been a draw for foreign investors.

But a more sustained rise in long-dated global yields worldwide amid growing unease about

inflation pressure is challenging that outlook and may weigh further on sentiment for Treasuries.

The Bank of England’s hawkish tone “has served as a reminder that global markets are pushing for higher policy rates and that will be this year’s theme,” said Ian Lyngen, head of US rates strategy at BMO Capital Markets.

“London, Frankfurt, and Washington are now all in decidedly hawkish stances and it follows intuitively that there would be a bearish impetus in Treasuries.”

At about 1.36 percent, the 10-year Gilt yield has climbed to its highest level in over two years, with the Bank of England raising its overnight rate to 0.5 percent and announcing it will start reducing its balance sheet holdings by ceasing to reinvest maturing assets and by selling its holdings of corporate bonds.

While the European Central Bank left policy on hold, officials expressed concern about elevated inf lation, helping to intensify this week ’s drive of Germany’s 10-year yield above zero for the first time since May 2019.

The rise in global benchmark yields, including in Japan, is reducing the pool of global negative

yielding debt, removing another source of Treasury-market support. The amount of sub-zero yielding bonds has declined to $7.67 trillion, according to a Bloomberg index, the least since 2018 and down from a peak of $18.38 trillion seen in late 2020.

Citigroup’s O’Donnell said a US 30-year bond yield around 2.17 percent is at the lower of a range seen before the pandemic arrived. “If the selling pressure in UK and European markets continues, I would expect the 30-year bond spends more time in the 2.17 percent to 2.45 percent area,” he said. “Our core thesis for this year is that real rates are going up.”

With a lengthy window until the next Federal Open Market Committee meeting in March, the Treasury market is looking for further signals for how rapidly the central bank will move, including its plans for shrinking its balance sheet in conjunction with raising rates. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said he will take a nimble approach, which has promised to inject more volatility into the Treasury market as new economic data is released, including the monthly jobs report on Friday. Bloomberg News

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Digital warfare technology at sea helping US foes evade sanctions

By Joshua Goodman

M

The Associated Press

IAMI—Technology to hide a ship’s location previously available only to the world’s militaries is spreading fast through the global maritime industry as governments from Iran to Venezuela—and the rogue shipping companies they depend on to move their petroleum products—look for stealthier ways to circumvent US sanctions.

Windward, a maritime intelligence company whose data is used by the US government to investigate sanctions violations, said that since January 2020 it has detected more than 200 vessels involved in over 350 incidents in which they appear to have electronically manipulated their GPS location.

“This is out of hand right now,” Matan Peled, co-founder of Windward and a former Israeli naval officer, said in an interview. “It’s not driven by countries or superpowers. It’s ordinary companies using this technique. The scale is astonishing.”

Peled said US authorities have been slow to catch on to the spread of technology that has been part of the electronic warfare arsenal for decades but is only now cropping up in commercial shipping, with serious national security, environmental and maritime safety implications.

Windward was able to identify suspect ships using technology that detects digital tracks that don’t correspond to actual movements, such as hairpin turns at breakneck speed or drifting in the form of perfect crop circles.

William Fallon, a retired four-star admiral and former head of the US Pacific Command, said US authorities have been aware for some time of the threat from electronic manipulation, one of a growing number of so-called “gray zone” national security challenges that cut across traditional military, commercial and economic lines.

“Any time you can deceive somebody into believing you’re somewhere where you’re not is concerning,” said Fallon, who is now a board member of the American Security Project, a Washington think tank. “It illustrates the extent to which people who don’t have any scruples are willing to go to achieve their objectives and the ease with which they can do it.”

One of the more egregious examples found by Windward involves a 183-meter-long oil tanker that could be tracked sailing to Iraq even as it was in reality loading crude in Iran, which is banned from selling its oil by US sanctions.

The tanker, whose name Windward asked to be withheld so as not to disrupt any potential US government investigation, set sail on February 11, 2021, from the United Arab Emirates, reporting its destination as Basra, Iraq. When it was 20 nautical miles away, its global navigation system began exhibiting strange drifting patterns. Twelve days later, its transmission stabilized and it could be tracked heading back through the Hormuz strait at normal sailing speed, this time fully laden with crude.

Satellite imagery shows that during the two-week voyage a ship of identical length and with the same red deck broken up by a white pole and bridge was spotted dozens of nautical miles away, in Iran’s Kharg Island oil terminal.

That vessel was then followed on satellite sailing back to the UAE, its course merging with the reported position of the original ship after it resumed its normal transmission.

Under a United Nations maritime treaty, ships of over 300 tons have been required since 2004 to use an automated identification system to avoid collisions and assist rescues in the event of a spill or accident at sea. Tampering with its use is a major breach that can lead to official sanctions for a vessel and its owners.

But what was intended as an at-sea safety mechanism has also driven a proliferation in ship-spotting platforms like MarineTraffic.com.

Experts say such websites can be easily tricked since they partly rely on data gathered from thousands of amateur base stations that function like police radio scanners picking up maritime movements. Last year, two journalists from the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation managed to register online a fake base station near Somalia and insert the false coordinates of a real vessel. Seconds later, the falsified location popped up on MarineTraffic.com.

“To minimize errors and always ensure data integrity, MarineTraffic has introduced a series of key actions in the last few months as we strive to keep securing incoming data further,” MarineTraffic’s Anastassis Touros said in a statement. Steps include blocking specific stations and IP addressees that consistently transmit false data.

Despite such quality control efforts, the sheer volume of data has cut into the utility of such open-source platforms, two US intelligence officers told The Associated Press. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss what they described as the latest—and most extreme—tactic in the cat and mouse game between authorities and bad actors.

Another blind spot: China. The recent implementation of a harsh data privacy law has cut by nearly half the amount of terrestrial data on maritime activity in Chinese waters, making it harder to track everything from activity at busy ports key to global supply chains to the movements of the world’s largest distant water fishing fleet.

Researchers from Global Fishing Watch, which uses satellite data and machine learning to monitor activity at sea, have made similar findings as Windward. It has identified 30 vessels whose locations, as reported on shiptracking platforms, regularly fell outside the range of the satellite receiving the ship’s position.

Among the vessels caught suspected of falsifying its digital tracks was the Tulip, a Panama-flagged oil tanker. For almost six months last year, it broadcast its position along the west coast of Africa. But the satellite that should have picked up the ship’s movements was often thousands of miles away, suggesting the ship was likely in Venezuela.

The Associated Press obtained internal documents from Venezuela’s stateowned oil company indicating the Tulip loaded 450,000 barrels of fuel oil during the first 15 days of September. Like several other of the suspicious vessels, the crude was purchased by a shell company, M and Y Trading Co., registered in Hong Kong in November 2020, according to the documents. The Tulip is owned by another Hong Kong-registered shell, Victory Marine Ltd. Neither company returned e-mails seeking comment.

Bjorn Bergman, a data analyst for Global Fishing Watch and Sky Truth, said attempts to hide a ship’s position can be easily detected.

“While we need to remain vigilant, vessel operators choosing to manipulate their data are just going to end up shining a spotlight on their activities,” he said.

Of the 200 vessels identified by Windward with similar patterns of deception, the vast majority exhibited no other or just a few classic red flags such as disabling on-ship tracking systems, falsifying a vessel’s flag state or constantly changing ownership from one shell company to another.

These shipping practices have become clear indications for possible involvement in sanctions evasion and are described as such in a 2020 advisory by the US State and Treasury departments and the US Coast Guard.

But the advisory, heralded as an important step to crack down on the shipping companies that do business with US adversaries, makes no mention of the latest GPS trick to hide illicit trade in oil, seafood and other products. As a result, the practice has exploded into what Windward has called a “free for all” with no immediate end in sight “The vast majority of these vessels were meticulously chosen for these missions because they are otherwise well behaved,” said Dror Salzman, a risk product manager at Windward. “If you walk to a bank with a ski mask on, everyone knows what you’re up to. But here it’s like they are working from the inside with the teller. Nobody can see them.”

Science Sunday BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Sunday, February 6, 2022

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PET-CT scans that diagnose cancers will soon be cheaper

Four drum kilns each loaded with 100 kg of coconut shells (80 percent) and wood trimmings (20 percent) can generate about 50kg to 80kg of charcoal briquettes for Thega Coconut Farm.

Photo from Super Uling’s Facebook page

TCF’s Super Uling is being sold at a stall in Ayala Vertis North.

Photos from Super Uling’s Facebook page

From waste to ‘Super Uling,’ thanks to DOST-FPRDI tech

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hat may have been just a pile of waste waiting to decompose becomes a profitable venture for a local coconut farm—thanks to a technology from the Forest Products Research and Development Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-FPRDI).

The Thega Coconut Farm (TCF) sought DOST-FPRDI’s assistance in 2018 to convert the farm’s tons of coconut shells into charcoal briquettes.

“Ever y 45 days, TCF generates about 1,600 kilograms to 2,400 kg of coconut shells from copra making,” said Sarahme Corazon B. Esteban of DOST-FPR DI’s Soc io -E conom ic s a nd Ma rket i ng Section (SEMS).

“If not given free to nearby hou se hold s or sold to t i n apa [smoked fish] makers at P3.50 a kg, the coconut shells are usually left to break down into natural compost. So the company thought of acquiring four drum kilns, manual briquettor, binder-mixer and charcoal crusher from DOST-FPRDI to turn the waste into something profitable,” Esteban explained.

Molded through pressure, charcoal briquette is a compacted mass of fuel material made from a mix of carbonized fines and a binder.

It is less messy than ordinary charcoal and easier to handle because it is compact and uniform in size. It also burns more slowly, gives more intense heat per unit volume, and is almost smokeless when burning.

TCF’s charcoal briquettes are now being sold under the trade name “Super Uling PH,” with prices ranging from P60 to P80 per kg.

The farm’s operation has been gradually recovering after a temporary halt in its production in July 2019 when a series of typhoons ravaged its main market, Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro.

It was also adversely affected in 2020 by the Cov id-19 pandemic. As of writing, TCF is at full operational capacit y, w ith a monthly production volume of 1.5 tons to 2 tons.

The Super Uling charcoal briquettes are currently penetrating online shopping sites and some physical stores of local food businesses and households in Puerto Galera and other tourist sites.

The briquettes are also being sold at kiosks in Ayala Fairview Terraces and Ayala Vertis North along with other TCF products such as coco ropes, coco peat and coco coir. Apple Jean C. Martin-de Leon and Sarahme Corazon B. Esteban, S&T News Services

Mapua gives free online training to high-school STEM teachers

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he te a c h i n g of s c ie nce, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has been among the most challenging subjects, especially in online or modular distance learning classrooms.

To help the STEM teachers cope with the challenges of teaching these subjects, Mapúa University, in partnership with the Department of Education, has launched STEM Teach Mapúa 2.0.

The free online-training program aims to strengthen the quality of STEM education in the country by advancing the skills of junior and senior high-school teachers in this track.

It is the second time Mapúa, the leading engineering and technological school in the country, has rolled out its online teaching innovation with its initial installment in 2018.

It is open to private- and publicschool teachers in the Greater Manila Area. The four-week program will impart Mapúa’s homegrown knowledge and techniques that will also discuss tried and tested teaching methods used by the university.

STEM education has become more recognized as various think tanks worldwide predict that the demand for science and technology (S&T) specialists will spike.

The study of Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute and Philippine Institute for Development Studies titled, “The Future S&T Human Resource Requirements in the Philippines: A Labor Market Analysis,” in 2020 revealed the growth of S&T jobs.

It forecasted that engineering would be in demand domestically, followed by life science, physical sciences, math and statistics.

“Laying the correct foundation for the STEM education of junior and senior high-school students is most crucial right now. The pandemic has hastened digitalization and has increased the demand for digital and

other skills in science, technology and engineering,” said Mapúa University President Dr. Reynaldo B. Vea. “With our STEM Teach Mapúa 2.0 knowledge-sharing program, we hope to empower fellow educators by reinforcing their knowledge and skills in the disciplines of [STEM],” Vea said.

“By being so equipped, they can then lay the foundation so we can grow a large pool of topnotch Filipino scientists, tech experts, engineers and mathematicians,” he explained.

The online training program consists of seven courses: General Mathematics, Pre-Calculus, Basic Calculus, Physics, Statistics, Chemistry, and Biology. Teacher-participants can access the micro-video lectures and presentations asynchronously and 24/7 through Mapúa’s learning management system Cardinal Education in a Digital and Global Environment. Modules also include online assessments.

A total of 638 teachers in the greater Manila area have joined the enrichment program. Registration was on a “first come, first served” basis. Schools have two representatives per subject.

It is hoped that the participating teachers will cascade the teaching methodologies to colleagues after completing the program on February 28.

“With the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we must equip the Filipino youth with the right foundational knowledge and motivate them to embrace STEM careers so that we can meet human resource requirements in the coming years,” Vea added.

Known for producing top graduates, Mapúa has been ranked in the top 501-550 universities in Asia in 2022 with a rating of 4 Stars by Quacquarelli Symonds. It also offers internationally accredited programs in Engineering, Architecture, and Information Technology.

Construction of DOST’s nuke medicine research center starts

F

ilipinos will soon have an affordable Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography (PET-CT) test for their cancer diagnosis, and no longer suffer from its very prohibitive costs of about P70,000 to P100,000 and more.

This will be made possible with the start of the construction of the Nuclear Medicine Research and Innovation Centre (NMRIC), which will house a medical cyclotron and PET-CT Imaging Centers— the first government facility that will house these equipment in one setting.

The Department of Science and Technology and Philippine Nuclear Research Institute officials recently held the groundbreaking for the construction of the center inside the DOST-PNRI compound in Quezon City, the institute’s news release said.

The construction is expected to be completed in 2023 and the facility to be operational by 2024.

Leading the groundbreaking ceremony that was beamed online was Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña, together with DOST Undersecretary Rowena Cristina L. Guevara, for Research and Development (R&D), and DOST-PNRI Director Carlo A. Arcilla.

“Through this Centre, cancer staging and management will be more affordable and reachable to the common Filipino people,” de la Peña said in his message during the event.

He emphasized that the establishment of the Centre is “in line with the goals of universal health care for the Filipino people.”

He said in hi Facebook account that the costs of the services of NMRIC are estimated to be cheaper by 20 percent to 30 percent compared to the hospital rates.

“That will be a big help to our countrymen who are in need of affordable services for cancer staging and management,” de la Peña said partly in Filipino.

The Science chief noted in his

message during the groundbreaking event that in the Philippines, cancer is one of the top non-communicable killers with a mortality rate of 60 percent. There were about 153,751 new cases of cancer in the country in 2020.

He added that it is projected that by 2040 the number of cancer incidences will increase by 69.4 percent for the male population and 56.8 percent for the female population. “[Besides] the personal loss of the families with members who died of cancer, the economic impact of cancer is significant and increasing.

Twelve years ago, in 2010, the total annual economic cost of cancer in 2010 was estimated at $1.16 trillion,” de la Peña said.

Cyclotron and PET-CT scans

The Centre’s medical cyclotron will produce the PET radiopharmaceuticals, which will be used to produce images that will help physicians diagnose almost all types of cancers, heart diseases, and neurological, immunology disorders and other abnormalities.

In contrast to invasive procedures where doctors make incisions or punctures, PET-CT scans are non-invasive, clinically proven, cost-effective and safe procedures in investigating the condition of a certain organ or to confirm the suspicion of a disease.

Nuclear medicine is a process of medical imaging that uses small amounts of radioactive materials called radiopharmaceuticals.

Injected to a patient, these radiophramaceuticals special drugs emit low doses of radiation—which are not harmful to people—produce images that are tracked by physicians through the use of specially designed cameras, de la Peña explained.

Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña (center) leads the groundbreaking rites of PNRI’s Nuclear Medicine Research and Innovation Centre, which will help make cancer diagnosis and treatment more affordable. With him (from left) are DOST Undersecretary for R&D Dr. Rowena Cristina L. Guevara and DOST-PNRI Director Dr. Carlo A. Arcilla. Photo by Framelia V. Anonas, PNRI

Images of target tissues produced by the radiopharmaceuticals help physicians diagnose or treat a variety of diseases, especially cancers.

De la Peña noted that there are currently only three operational cyclotrons in the country—all of them are in Metro Manila. Some cyclotron facilities are being constructed in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Nuclear med training and R&D hub

Besides helping make cancer diagnostics and treatment more affordable to Filipinos, Guevara said in her message during the event that the Centre will also become a training hub for human resources development in the fields of PET radiochemistry, PET radiopharmaceutical production and quality control, and hybrid imaging services.

She a lso said that the estab lishment of the Centre w i l l step up the countr y’s researches in new and emerging radiopharmaceutica ls other than rad iotracer F18 f luorodeox yglucose; novel radioisotopes for PET like metallic rad iophar maceutica ls; treatment moda lit y and management in oncolog y or cancer.

Also in researches on neurorelated degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and others; PET application in studying pulmonary inspections due to Co-

vid 19; and radiation metrics and safety.

Guevara added that the Centre will likewise enable multi-disciplinary and collaborative research among physicists, physicians, pharmacists, chemists, molecular biologists, and others.

For PNR I C h ief A rc i l l a t he projec t “ is a l so a person a l advoc ac y.” He d isc losed t h at h is ow n sister bat t led w it h c a ncer wh ic h wa s d i ag nosed l ate.

“As this Centre will offer more affordable services, it will help in the early diagnosis of cancer which will have better chances of cure,” he said during the groundbreaking.

He disclosed that the radiopharmaceuticals to be produced by the Centre’s cyclotron facility will also be used in a cancer center that will be established by the UP-Philippine General Hospital beside the PNRI compound, the institute’s news release said.

The project is under the program “Innovating Nuclear Medicine Research and Services: Development of Emerging PET Radiopharmaceuticals for Early Cancer Staging and Assessment of Biologic Functions in Cancer Cells.”

It is led by Adelina DM. Bulos, with the assistance of DOST-PNRI S&T Fellow and former Balik Scientist Dr. Thomas Neil B. Pascual.

S&T Media Services

Filipinos win top prizes in Searca photo contest

I

mages of farming families practicing healthy diets and engaging in nutritious food production during the Covid-19 pandemic, five of which by Filipino photographers, won the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) 2021 photo contest.

Themed “One Health is Wealth: Healthy Agriculture and Sustainable Food Systems,” the contest saw Filipinos winning the first and second prizes, People’s Choice and Searca Director’s Choice awards and the Best Youth Photographer Award (Mobile Phone), a Searca news release said.

The other winning photos were by photographers from Vietnam and Myanmar.

A photo depicting home gardening by Lindy Vivien Aldaba won the first prize. It shows a vignette illustrating how the pandemic opened people’s minds to produce food in the comfort of their homes with access to online resources to help them grow their plants well.

Klienne Eco bagged the second prize with his photo of a mother and her children going through a

schoolbook in front of a healthy spread of vegetables, fruits, milk and bread.

The third prize went to a photo of a farmer harvesting water mimosa by The Duy Tu. Water mimosa is a calcium- and iron-rich vegetable that also contains vitamins A and C. In Southeast Asia, it is found in still waters in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The winner of the Searca Director’s Choice is a photo by Arturo B. de Vera Jr. showing a farming couple with the father preparing a fresh harvest of fruits and vegetables for a meal and the mother breastfeeding her baby, both of which will boost the immune

system against rampant diseases, including Covid-19.

“The food systems that focus on sustainable agriculture and recognize breastfeeding as the first food cut across human health and planetary health,” said Searca Director Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio.

Gregorio added that the photo vividly captured the brightness of the sun that highlights the colorful harvest of the day.

On the other hand, Kyaw Zayar Lin’s photo of farm workers having a meal beside a rice field emerged as the Choice of Philippine Department of Education Secretary, Dr. Leonor Magtolis Briones.

The People’s Choice Award went to a photo by Arnel Dagdag Garcia of a young boy about to plant a seedling as his father and brother harvest crops behind him.

The photo garnered more than 1,000 likes on Facebook.

To mark its 15th milestone year, the Searca Photo Contest added two special awards for young shutterbugs who used a camera and a mobile phone.

Aung Myat Thu bagged the Best Youth Photographer Award (Camera) for his photo of beans scattering out of a farmer’s cupped hands.

Meanwhile, her photo of a little girl drinking processed raw milk collected from a cow won for Emely J. Escala the Best Youth Photographer Award (Mobile Phone).

The first, second, and third prize winners won $1,000, $800, and $500, respectively.

The Searca Director’s Choice and Philippine DepEd Secretary’s Choice winners each won $500, while the winner of the People’s Choice Award via Facebook votation gets $400. The Best Youth Photographer Award recipients each won $300.

The Searca Photo Contest is launched every September.

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Faith

Sunday

Sunday, February 6, 2022

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion • www.businessmirror.com.ph

Pope Francis: ‘The Lord always surprises us’

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ATICAN—Pope Francis encouraged people to be open to the newness Jesus wants to bring in their daily lives and to cultivate the capacity to wonder.

“The Lord always surprises us.

This is the beauty of an encounter with Jesus,” Pope Francis said January 30.

“The Lord asks us for an open mind and a simple heart. May Our Lady, model of humility and willingness, show us the way to welcome Jesus.”

Speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter’s Square, the pope told the crowd gathered below that “it takes humility to encounter God” and to “let ourselves be encountered by Him.” “Jesus asks you to accept him in the daily reality that you live; in the Church of today, as it is; in those who are close to you every day; in the reality of those in need, in the problems of your family, in your parents, in your children, in

grandparents, in welcoming God there,” he said.

The pope added that it is foolish for someone to think that just by studying theology or taking catechesis classes one can “know everything about Jesus.”

“Perhaps, after many years as believers, we think we know the Lord well, with our ideas and our judgments, very often. The risk is that we get accustomed, we get used to Jesus,” he said.

“And in this way, how do we grow accustomed? We close ourselves off, we close ourselves off to his newness, to the moment in which he knocks on our door and asks you something new, and wants to enter into you.

We must stop being fixed in our positions.”

A fter pray ing the A ngelus

Children participating in a Catholic Action initiative help to release balloons at the end of the Angelus on January 30. VATICAN MEDIA

The image of Our Lady of the Assumption, patroness of the Diocese of Maasin. CBCP News

prayer in Latin with the crowd, the pope greeted a group of children participating in the “Caravan of Peace” organized by Catholic Action, who released colorful balloons into the sky.

As he watched the balloons

ascend, Pope Francis said: “It is a sign of hope that the young people of Rome are bringing to us today.”

The pope extended greetings to those in East Asia and other parts of the world who will celebrate the

Lunar New Year on February 1.

“How beautiful it is when families find opportunities to gather together and experience moments of love and joy,” he said.

“Many families, unfortunately, will not be able to get together this

Canonical coronation to Maasin’s Our Lady of the Assumption granted

The image of Our Lady of the Assumption, patroness of the Diocese of Maasin. CBCP News

P

ope Francis has granted canonical coronation to the image of Our Lady of the Assumption, the patroness of the Diocese of Maasin in Southern Leyte province.

The Marian statue, which is enshrined at the Maasin Cathedral, or the Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of the Assumption, will be the first pontifically crowned

image in the 53-year-old diocese.

The approval was made on December 14, 2021, nearly four months after Bishop Prescioso Cantillas petitioned the Vatican to confer the image with the distinct honor. “ T he r ite of c a non ic a l coro n at ion i s t e nt at i v e l y s e t for e a r l y A u g u s t t h i s y e a r,” t he d io c e s e s a id .

The diocese released a copy of the decision of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on February 2.

A canonical coronation is the Vatican’s recognition of a certain Marian image under a specific title being venerated in a locality.

The venerated image should also be historically old, acclaimed and, in times of need, serves as a beacon of faith and hope among the people.

Maasin was canonically established as a parish under the care of the Jesuit missionaries in 1771.

When the Franciscans took charge in 1843, the parish was placed under the patronage of Our Lady of the Assumption.

In 1968, upon the elevation of the parish church into a cathedral, the newly erected diocese also took Our Lady of the Assumption as its patroness. CBCP News

Archbishop-elect Arnaldo Catalan is the new Apostolic Nuncio to Rwanda. PHOTO FROM THE DIOCESE OF BAGUIO

Manila priest named as papal envoy to Rwanda

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ope Francis has appointed Msgr. Arnaldo Catalan as the new apostolic nuncio to Rwanda.

The appointment was made

public on January 31 and published by the Holy See Press Office.

Catalan succeeded Archbishop Andrzej Józwowicz, who was transferred to Iran in June 2021.

year because of the pandemic. I hope that we will soon be able to overcome the ordeal.”

Pope Francis also highlighted World Leprosy Day, which occurs each year on the last Sunday of January. He appealed for both spiritual and medical assistance for those suffering from leprosy, officially called Hansen’s Disease.

“It is necessary to work together toward the full integration of these people, overcoming every form of discrimination associated with a sickness that unfortunately still afflicts many people, especially in the most disadvantaged social contexts,” he said.

The pope extended a special greeting to all Salesian priests and religious on the eve of the feast of Saint John Bosco, adding that he had followed the Mass offered in the Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians in Turin, Italy.

“We think of this great saint, father and teacher of the young.

He did not shut himself up in the sacristy. He did not close himself off in his own things. He went out into the streets to look for young people, with the creativity that was his hallmark,” Pope Francis said.

Catholic News Agency via CBCP News

In appointing Catalan as a Vatican envoy, the pope also elevated him to the titular See of Apollonia, with the dignity of archbishop.

A priest of the Archdiocese of Manila, the archbishop-elect was ordained to the priesthood in March 1994.

At 55, he is the first priest of the archdiocese to become a nuncio.

Cardinal Jose Advincula of Manila thanked the pope for the appointment, which he described as a “gift and honor” for the archdiocese.

He also assured Catalan, who has been serving as the Chargé d’affaires of the diplomatic mission of the Holy See in China (Taiwan) since 2019, of his support and prayers as he takes on his new mission.

Catalan joined the Holy See Diplomatic Service in July 2001.

Since then, he has served in the Apostolic Nunciatures in Zambia, Kuwait, Mexico, Honduras, Turkey, India, Argentina, Canada, and the Philippines.

The details of his episcopal ordination are yet to be announced.

CBCP News

Pope to religious sisters: Fight back when mistreated by ‘men of the Church’

V

ATICAN—Pope Francis told religious sisters to fight back when they are treated unfairly or “reduced to servitude” by men of the Church.

“I encourage all consecrated women to discern and choose what is best for their mission in the face of the world’s challenges that we’re experiencing,” Pope Francis said in a video message on February 1.

“I invite them to fight when, in some cases, they are treated unfairly, even within the Church; when they serve so much that they are reduced to servitude—at times, by men of the Church,” the pope said.

Pope Francis has asked Catholics to pray in a particular way in the month of February for religious sisters and consecrated women.

In his video message, the pope did not provide any more context for his comments on

the mistreatment of religious sisters.

A book published in November 2021 in Italian titled, “The Veil of Silence: Abuses, Violence, Frustrations in Women’s Religious Life,” by Salvatore Cernuzio, a journalist for the Vatican’s news service.

It detailed the experiences of religious sisters who recounted “abuse of power” within the convent—including a sister’s report that a priest had attempted to molest her was brushed aside by a mother superior.

The pope mentioned in a speech in December that he had received a copy of the book

by Cernuzio on “the everyday abuses that hurt the strength of the vocation.”

In his video message, Pope Francis encouraged religious sisters not to be discouraged, but to “keep making God’s goodness known” through apostolic works and the witness

Pope Francis meets religious sisters at a general audience on January 19. VATICAN MEDIA

of their consecration.

“Let us pray for religious sisters and consecrated women, thanking them for their mission and their courage; may they continue to find new

responses to the challenges of our times,” the pope said.

There are more than 630,000 women religious throughout the world, according to Fides, the news agency of the

Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Religious sisters around the world serve in the areas of education, health, interreligious dialogue, conflict resolution, the

pro-life movement, social work, care for the elderly and in service to victims of human trafficking, among other things.

“What would the Church be without religious sisters and consecrated laywomen? The Church cannot be understood without them,” Pope Francis said.

The pope’s video was made in collaboration with the International Union of Superiors General, an organization based in Rome which connects more than 1,900 religious orders to each other.

“I exhort them to keep working and to have an impact with the poor, with the marginalized, with all those who are enslaved by traffickers; I especially ask them to make an impact on this,” he said.

“And let us pray that they may show the beauty of God’s love and compassion as catechists, theologians, and spiritual guides.” Courtney Mares/ Catholic News Agency via CBCP News

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Sunday, February 6, 2022

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

A7

‘When moisture condenses, it releases heat, that’s why when it rains, now it pours.’

Measuring climate change: It’s not just heat, it’s humidity

W

hen it comes to measuring global warming, humidity, not just heat, matters in generating dangerous climate extremes, a new study finds.

Researchers say temperature by itself isn’t the best way to measure climate change’s weird weather and downplays impacts in the tropics.

But factoring in air moisture along with heat shows that climate change since 1980 is nearly twice as bad as previously calculated, according to their study in the recent Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The energy generated in extreme weather, such as storms, floods and rainfall is related to the amount of water in the air.

So a team of scientists in the US and China decided to use an o b s c u r e w e a t h e r m e a s u r e m e nt ca lled equiva lent potentia l temp e r at u re — or t he t a - e — t h at re f le c t s “ t he moi st u re e ne r g y of

the atmosphere,” said study coauthor V. “R am” R amanathan, a climate scientist at the Universit y of Ca lifor nia San Diego’s Scr ipps Institution of Oceanography and Cor nel l Universit y. It’s ex pressed in degrees, like temperature.

“There are two drivers of climate change: temperature and humidity,” Ramanathan said. “And so far we measured global warming just in terms of temperature.”

But by adding the energy from hu m id it y, “t he e x t re mes — he at waves, rainfall and other measures of extremes—correlate much better,” he said.

That’s because as the world warms, the air holds more moisture, nearly 4 percent for every degree Fahrenheit

A villager holds an umbrella as dark clouds loom over Balasore district in Odisha, India, on May 25, 2021, ahead of a powerful storm barreling toward the eastern coast. AP (7 percent for every degree Celsius).

When that moisture condenses, it releases heat or energy, “that’s why when it rains, now it pours,” Ramanathan said.

In addition, water vapor is a potent heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere that increases climate change, he said.

From 1980 to 2019, the world warmed about 1.42 degrees (0.79

degrees Celsius). But taking energy from humidity into account, the world has warmed and moistened 2.66 degrees (1.48 degrees Celsius), the study said. And in the tropics,

Los Baños rolls out eLBeep e-jeepneys T W

the warming was as much as 7.2 degrees (4 degrees Celsius).

W hen judging by temperature alone, it looks like warming is most pronounced in North America, midlatitudes and especially the poles— and less so in the tropics, Ramanathan said.

But that’s not the case, he said, because the high humidity in the tropics juices up storm activity, from regular storms to tropical cyclones and monsoons.

“This increase in latent energy released in the air, which leads to weather extremes: floods, storms and droughts,” Ramanathan said.

University of Illinois climate scientist Donald Wuebbles, who wasn’t part of the study, said it makes sense because water vapor is key in extreme rainfall.

“Both heat and humidity are important,” Wuebbles said.

Environmental scientist Katharine Mach of the University of Miami, who wasn’t part of the study, said “humidity is key in shaping the impacts of heat on human health and well-being, at present and into the future.” AP

CCC-Nestlé’s Klimathon picks top 10 teams

hite-and-green colored modern electronic jeepneys, called eLBeep, are now plying between the Los Baños town proper and the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) campus.

T he fou r moder n e - je e pne y s s t a r t e d p i c k i n g u p c o m mut e r s around the UP College-Bayan route on January 31 with the launching of the eLBeep by UPLB, in partnership with the Samahan ng Nagkak aisang Operator-Dr iver ng Los Baños (SNODLB), the UPLB said in its web site.

UPLB Chancellor Jose Camacho Jr. underscored during the event the significance of the introduction of e-jeepneys in the campus to the overall goal of future-proofing UPLB’s processes and operations through responding to social and environmental challenges and achieving long-term sustainability.

The transport cooperative, according to SNODLB President Danilo Lescano, acquired the first batch of the e-jeepney units for the government’s public utility vehicle modernization program in response to the direction given by UPLB to switch to green mobility inside the campus.

Snoblob’s franchise that was granted by the Land Transportation Franchising

Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs Roberto Cereno with eLBeep electronic jeepneys.

UPLB web site

Attending the launching of modern electronic jeepneys, tagged as eLBeep, are Chancellor Jose V. Camacho, Jr., Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs Roberto Cereno, Los Baños Mayor Tony Kalaw, SNODLB President Danilo Lescano and Cooperative Development Authority Specialist Liza Gonzalez. Robby Cereno Facebook page

and Regulatory Board also provides for future deployment of modern jeepneys between Calamba City and UPLB. Meanwhile, Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs Roberto Cereno said on his Facebook post: “We truly appreciate the help and cooperation of Los Baños local government officials in this green mobility initiative.”

For his part, Los Baños Mayor Antonio Kalaw reiterated the local government’s commitment and cooperation with the green mobility initiative for the advancement of public good and welfare.

He also thanked the UPLB for supporting the various projects of Los Baños concerning livelihood, environmental protection, and public health, including its Covid-19 vaccination drive.

UPLB had converted the Copeland Gymnasium into a vaccination hub to help Los Baños municipality achieve high vaccination rates.

In 2021, Los Baños was declared by the Provincial Government of Laguna as the Top Performing Municipality with 100 percent of the target population having received at least one vaccine dose.

Besides, 80.13 percent of its target population were already fully vaccinated.

he Filipino youth must pursue with passion the cause of sustainable development and to arrest the depletion of planet Earth’s resources, mitigate the impacts of climate change, saving endangered species, among others, according to a young engineer.

Angelica Anne Munar, an engineer and the winner of the International Eco-Concrete Competition in 2019 and youth innovator, urged the participants in the online Klimathon Finalist Showcase to pursue their respective endeavor.

She said entering the competition spearheaded by Climate Change Commission (CCC) and Nestlé Philippines was not an easy task, and being a finalist was already an accomplishment.

“Sometimes the crazy ideas are the ones that have solved problems,” Munar said in her talk.

“Forget the finish line. You have other goals to pursue,” she added.

Fortunately, she said the participants were taking a stand toward mitigating climate change in various ways.

They include supporting environmental causes, reducing carbon footprint, and using their voices in raising awareness on the current climate situation.

The United Nations even described the youth as “agents of change, entrepreneurs and innovators” when it comes to climate action.

The CCC and Nestlé named the 10 teams that will advance to the final stage of the Klimathon from among finalists nationwide who presented their project concepts during the virtual event.

They will later undergo a mentoring program led by experts in the fields of sustainability, agriculture, energy and technology.

With the theme, “Klimathon: Our Race Towards a Net-Zero Reality,” CCC and Nestlé Philippines launched the competition to provide

young Filipinos a platform to develop new and workable solutions that can help address pressing climate concerns.

Students and young innovators were asked to send in their project concepts, focusing on any of these three pillars: plastic waste management; energy efficiency and renewable energy; and food security.

The 10 team top were The Cool Smart Box, Team Tagubtub, Team Fresh Box, Econique, The Good Flies, Team Neutralizer, Team inSPECT, Chic Ecologist and Bio-Fruiture.

“When the CCC and Nestlé Philippines launched this competition last year, we aimed to showcase what the Filipino youth can offer when it comes to climate action,» said Ludwig O. Federigan, chief of Information and Knowledge Management Division of the CCC, during the online briefing.

“We want to provide an avenue where they can freely create and develop sustainabilityfocused ideas for the environment. Knowing more about their innovative and refreshing project concepts today, I do believe we have achieved this goal,” Federigan said.

Christine Ponce-Garcia, Nestlé Philippines AVP for Sustainability and Public Affairs, also commended the young finalists.

“Seeing these bright minds come together show us that the future is indeed bright as we journey toward a net-zero reality,” PonceGarcia said.

At Nestlé PH, she said, they celebrate the youth who are engaged in climate action with their vision and passion.

«They will be the leaders in ensuring a healthier, more liveable planet that they will inherit,” she added.

After the mentoring sessions, the three winning teams will be named at the Klimathon Finals in April 2022. Rizal Raoul Reyes

Photos of birds, fishermen top ACB’s ‘Zooming in on Biodiversity’

‘[T

he] power of photography has become even more important today, as our movement continues to be limited due to the continuing threat of Covid-19 and its emergent variants,” said Executive Director Theresa Mundita Lim of Asean Centre of Biodiversity (ACB).

With the ongoing pandemic, photographs of nature have the power to inspire and cultivate a deeper appreciation for biodiversity and its protection, the ACB news release said.

The ACB announced on January 31 the winners of its Asean-wide photography competition, „Zooming in on Biodiversity” via Zoom and Facebook live, after a thorough evaluation of photo and digital content entries.

Organised by the ACB in partnership with the European Union (EU) through the Biodiversity Conservation and Management of Protected Areas in Asan Project, the competition was opened in November 2021 to a l l amateur and professiona l

photographers and creatives in the Asean region.

It is part of a regional #WeAreAseanBiodiversity campaign, which aims to raise awareness and mobilize support for biodiversity conservation in the region. “[An image] can tell us a compelling story and even bring us to places we haven’t seen, heard, or experienced. Such power of photography has become even more important today, as our movement continues to be limited due to the continuing threat of Covid-19 and its emergent variants,” Lim said in a recorded video message.

She said the photographs of land and seascapes, plants, and animals are reminders of the essential role of biodiversity in our daily survival.

The sixth staging of Zooming in on Biodiversity has two categories. The general category, “#WeAreAseanBiodiversity: I am part of the solution,” focused on the richness of Asean’s rich biodiversity, and the active role of people, as part of nature,

as a vital part of the solution to conserving this rich natural heritage.

The the Asean Heritage Parks (AHP) special category highlights the natural and cultural richness of the 50 AHPs. The finalists were judged following a set of criteria: relevance, composition, creativity and technical excellence.

The panel of judges was composed of ACB’s Lim; Ileana Miritescu, program manager of the EU Delegation to the Philippines; and professional photographer Sheryl Aguiba.

Aung Chan Thar of Myanmar bagged the grand prize in the general category and the People’s Choice Award for the AHP category for his photo titled «Together.»

The second place and third place of the general category went to Kyaw Zay Yar Lin’s «Life of Fishermen» of Myanmar, and Arturo B. de Vera Jr.’s “For the Future Generation” of the Philippines, respectively.

Myanmar’s Aung Kyaw Zaw’s

“Back to Home” was the People’s Choice Awardee garnering the highest number of likes on Facebook.

For the AHP category, Kyaw Kyaw Winn of Myanmar also won first place for his photo “Fishing the Traditional Way,” while Tran Viet Linh’s “Sea Fish Farming on Bai Tu Long Bay” of Vietnam, and Danny Ocampo’s “Jacks of Tubbataha” of the Philippines came in second and third, respectively.

Meanwhile, in the #WeAreAseanBiodiversity Tiktok Challenge, Pavina Vongsouvanh of Lao PDR won the Creativity Award.

Maria Fe Felicilda of the Philippines had the most liked entry and bagged the People’s Choice Award.

Winners took home prizes between $300 and $1,500.

“We saw powerful messages, stunning landscapes, and superb wildlife captured in your photos.

They show us the many creative perspectives highlighting the natural and cultural richness of Asean Heritage Parks and interactions of

Among the winners in the sixth Asean “Zooming in on Biodiversity” are (from left) Pavina Vongsouvanh of Lao PDR, Creativity Award in the #WeAreAseanBiodiversity Tiktok Challenge; Maria Fe Felicilda, Philippines, People’s Choice Award; «Fishing the Traditional Way” (top) by Kyaw Kyaw Winn, Myanmar; and “Together” by Aung Chan Thar, Myanmar. ACB photo humans with biodiversity,” Miritescu of EU said in a video message.

Moderated by Antoinette Taus, UN Environment Programme Goodwill Ambassador and one of the voices of the ACB’s #WeAreAseanBiodiversity campaign, the awards ceremony also featured one of the first environment champions hailed as Asean Biodiversity Heroes.

A sean Biod iversit y Hero of Cambodia Sophea Chhin, one of the

founders of Birds of Cambodia Education and Conservation, in a conversation with Taus, talked about his passion for photography and wildlife conservation and his community’s appreciation for wildlife.

“Before, a lot of people [in my community] were using slingshots to shoot birds. Wildlife was bushmeat for them then. It changed when they started using a camera,” Chhin said.

Sports BusinessMirror

Mickelson, while in Saudi, accuses PGA Tour of ‘obnoxious greed’

K

ING ABDULLAH ECONOMIC CITY, Saudi Arabia—Phil Mickelson claims the “obnoxious greed” of the Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour and its ownership of media rights is why players are tempted by the prospects of rival tours, such as one backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, Golf Digest reported.

Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson are among 20 PGA Tour members who are playing in the Saudi International this week for exorbitant appearance money.

The tournament is now part of the Asian Tour, which received a $300 million influx from Greg Norman’s new LIV Golf Investments, which is funded primarily by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Mickelson, a 45-time winner on the PGA Tour, and DeChambeau have been the two most prominent players linked to talk of a “super league.” Players such as Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka and Jordan Spieth have said they would not be interested.

In a news conference before the tournament, Mickelson said the competition was giving players leverage, and that the threat of a rival league had led the PGA Tour to create a $40 million Player Impact Program (which he says he won last year) and increases in prize money and FedEx Cup bonus money.

He later told Golf Digest the players not owning their media rights is what bothers him.

“If the tour wanted to end any threat, they could just hand back the media rights to the players,” Mickelson told Digest. “But they would rather throw $25 million here and $40 million there than give back the roughly $20 billion in digital assets they control.

Or give up access to the $50-

plus million they make every year on their own media channel.”

He did not say where he came up with the $20 billion figure.

The PGA Tour declined comment. The tour, like other major sports organizations, relies on media rights as a major source of revenue.

“The media rights are but a small fraction of everything else,” Mickelson said. “And it is the tour’s obnoxious greed that has really opened the door for opportunities elsewhere.”

Mickelson was irritated in 2018 when he staged a winner-take-all exhibition match with Tiger Woods in Las Vegas. That was the first of five matches, and Mickelson said he has had to pay $1 million to the tour for each one.

“For my own media rights,” Mickelson said. “That type of greed is, to me, beyond obnoxious.”

However, that arrangement has long been standard for unofficial events on television such as the old Skins Game or the Monday night matches involving Woods from 20 years ago. AP

B

EIJING—The ice rinks that play host to figure skating and speedskating competitions at the Beijing Olympics will also be putting a major environmental problem on the world stage—the potent greenhouse gases often lurking in refrigerators, air conditioners and other cooling systems.

Four newly built rinks at the Games will use alternative carbon dioxide cooling systems with far less of an impact on global warming than the artificial refrigerants used in such appliances, though other rinks will still use such refrigerants.

Organizers nevertheless say the use of CO2 cooling at the new rinks could bring attention to the use of artificial refrigerants globally, which is expected to become a growing problem as developing countries get richer and use more and more cooling appliances.

“People don’t currently have air conditioning. They don’t currently have refrigeration. But as the world develops, they’re getting that,” said Chuck Booten, a senior engineer at the US Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

The change at select Olympic venues comes as athletes worry that global warming is endangering winter sports and increasing the need for human-made snow, which requires huge amounts of water and energy to produce. To produce the artificial snow for the Beijing Games, China built massive irrigation systems that will use up to 800 Olympic-sized swimming pools’ worth of water.

With ice rinks, the use of CO2 cooling systems at some venues for the Beijing Games

ONE SNEEZE CAN SHATTER DREAMS The Associated Press

M

Olympic ice rinks put spotlight on potent greenhouse gases signals the latest chapter in the history of artificial refrigerants.

Under an international treaty in 1987, countries agreed to phase out an earlier generation of refrigerants because of their ozone-depleting properties. That eventually paved the way for the rise of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, which don’t zap a hole in the atmosphere but can leak from discarded appliances and are considered a major driver of global warming.

“We traded one environmental disaster for another,” said Danielle Wright of the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council, which advocates for alternative refrigerants.

Wright said regulatory and technical advances have largely addressed the risks once associated with refrigerants like ammonia and propane, which were popular before the rise of the artificial refrigerants and have no global warming impact. AP

unday, February 6, 2022 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

A WORKER prepares to administer a Covid-19 test at the 2022 Winter Olympics. AP

By Jimmy Golen

PHIL MICKELSON is one of 20 Professional Golf Association Tour members who are playing in the Saudi International this week for exorbitant appearance money. AP

A8 | S

ARIAH BELL had just won the US figure skating championship to earn her first trip to the Olympics. Then came the hard part: remaining coronavirus-free until it was time to leave for Beijing.

“That will be 100 percent top priority,” Bell said after qualifying for the Winter Games and before retreating back into a lockdown in the hopes that she could dodge the virus for another month.

“I’m triple vaxxed; I’ve done everything I can do there. I’ll wear my masks, wash my hands a lot. I won’t be around people,” Bell said.

“We’re going to try to make a bubble situation at the rink I’m at.”

Athletes can spend decades trying to become the best in the world, and another year or two to qualify for what could be their only trip to the Olympics. And this year, they realize, it can start to fall apart with a single sneeze.

CANADA’S Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier compete during the ice dance team program of figure skating on Friday. AP

With Beijing Olympic organizers adopting a “zero Covid” policy and strict testing just to get on flights, skiers, sliders and skaters are taking extreme measures to avoid the coronavirus and its omicron variant that has derailed Olympic plans for several athletes. Others, including bobsledder and would-be US flag bearer Elana Meyers Taylor, can only hope for the handful of negative tests that would allow them to fly to China to compete.

“I’ve been with the team for the last two-and-a-half weeks, or whatever number we’re at now,” Canadian curling coach Jeff Stoughton said recently from the team’s self-imposed isolation house in Abbotsford, British Columbia.

“We want to make sure they get their Olympic dream and get over there and are able to compete at their best.”

For American moguls skier Hannah Soar, qualifying for her first Games meant an immediate retreat to the full lockdown of the early days of the pandemic: grocery pickup, no indoor contact at all and treating everyone she encounters as if they have Covid-19. Even when wearing a KN95 mask outside, she still keeps her distance in the lift lines.

perfecting their TikTok challenges.

“Between that and the rink, we’ve been living pretty good. Just kind of operating like one big family,” men’s second Brett Gallant said, while also acknowledging: “It is a long time to have eight guys in the same house.”

The Canadian mixed doubles curling team dealt with the strain of isolation by getting outdoors in Canmore, Alberta. John Morris, a two-time gold medalist, said he went snowshoeing most days, while mixing in some ice fishing.

“I think isolation can have an effect on your mental psyche.

We’re trying to make sure that we’re getting outside and in a good frame of mind,” said Morris, who is competing in mixed doubles with Rachel Homan. “We had a small window to prepare, so we’re really focused on our game.”

Figure skater Madison Hubbell, who finished fourth in ice dancing in 2018 with Zachary Donohue, canceled plans to see her family over the holidays. At the school in Montreal where they trained for Beijing, they were tested every day and practice schedules were spread out to allow for disinfecting in between.

She skipped the Tremblant World Cup in Quebec to avoid the travel.

“It’s definitely not how I pictured the month leading up to the Olympics to be. I expected to just be focused on winning Olympics and not concerned about you know, going,” she said. “It definitely is a huge mental toll.

It’s really anxiety-inducing, to be totally honest with you.

“You kind of have to juggle your sanity and being able to perform at the Olympics, and not lose your mind beforehand. But you also have to get there,” she said. “If you test positive you won’t, and that’s a harsh reality at the moment.”

Olympics organizers are requiring everyone coming in for the Games to test negative at least twice beforehand and then again on arrival. Already, several athletes have tested positive, putting their Games in jeopardy, with outbreaks among the Danish men’s hockey players, the Swiss women’s hockey team and the Norwegian crosscountry skiers.

To avoid joining them, other would-be Olympians have gone into various degrees of lockdown, sometimes coming out of isolation only to practice.

The Canadian men’s curling team was working out in the garage at its hideaway and practicing only when the rink was otherwise empty.

When not training, they played a lot of pool, cards and PlayStation’s Formula One game; they also were

Before her mom could watch her skate at nationals, she had to test negative. When she got there, hugging was out.

“You’re standing so close and you want to hug them, but my parents are fully understanding,” Hubbell said.

The US and Canadian women’s hockey teams—the top 2 favorites for the gold medal—were scheduled to play nine tuneup games through early January, but the last three were canceled due to an outbreak among the Canadian players. The Americans also had games against Russia and Finland canceled.

Instead, they practiced as a team, meeting with the mental performance coaches and trying to master the logistics of getting everyone to China safely.

“We’re definitely pivoting a lot and adapting and adjusting,” US General Manager Katie Million said.

“Everybody—every league, every sports team, everyone—has had challenges the last two years, and we’re not alone in that.”

Canadian coach Troy Ryan said that after two years, the Covid-19 protocols seem like a normal part of the process. And considering the havoc the outbreak has caused, he’s not going to complain.

“For us cry about situations that we have to overcome as a team, I don’t think it does the whole pandemic very much justice I mean, people are losing their jobs, people are losing lives,” he said. “It’s special that we’re still in a situation getting an opportunity to go to the Olympics.”

Reporter who broke gender barrier in NHL locker rooms dies

W

ALTHAM, Massachusetts— Robin Herman, a gender barrier-breaking reporter for The New York Times who was the first female journalist to interview players in the locker room after a National Hockey League game, has died. She was 70.

Her husband, Paul Horvitz, told the newspaper Herman died Tuesday at their home in the Boston suburb of Waltham, Massachusetts, from ovarian cancer.

“Robin was a Swiss Army Knife reporter. She covered fires and AIDS, gold madness in the Diamond District and Iran hostages, homelessness and hippie communal living,” the former Times editor recalled in a series of tweets Thursday as condolences and remembrances poured in on social media.

Herman was a hockey reporter covering the New York Islanders when she and another female reporter were allowed to interview players in the locker room—as their male counterparts were commonly permitted to do—following the 1975 All-Star Game in Montreal.

Herman, in a piece for the Times a few weeks later, recalled how she’d hoped her “mini sports history” moment would go quietly unnoticed.

Instead, the locker room quickly devolved into a “circus scene” as “players scrambled for towels and photographers scrambled for cameras” and the two female reporters suddenly were “the news of the hour,” she wrote.

“It was an important moment, for it loudly heralded the fact that female sportswriters are a reality and that they must be dealt with,” Herman wrote.

Herman went on to other assignments at the Times, later wrote for The International Herald Tribune and worked at The Washington Post in its health section. She also wrote the 1990 book “Fusion: The Search for Endless Energy.”

Herman became assistant dean for communications at Harvard University’s School of Public Health in 1999 and retired in 2012.

“Robin helped pave the way for so many women in sports by breaking numerous gender barriers that allowed us to follow in her footsteps,” the Association for Women in Sports Media tweeted.

Born in 1951 in New York City, Herman achieved other firsts in her lifetime: Herman was also part of the first Princeton University class that admitted women.

Besides her husband, she leaves two adult children and other relatives. The Boston Globe reported Herman will be laid to rest at a cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a gathering of remembrance will be held later. AP

BusinessMirror

February 6, 2022

How to get what you want at your next job

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INSPIRED BY THE MUNDANE Justus Bennetts on what being a ‘cool kid’ really means

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By Stephanie Joy Ching

T has been no secret that Tiktok has been highly influential in shaping the music industry for the past few years.

From rediscovering and repurposing songs to making a niche genre go viral, the platform has been lucrative for many young aspiring artists everywhere.

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For 21-year-old genreblending musician, Justus Bennetts, getting social media down to a science was vital in helping launch his music career.

After the success of the single “Bad Day”, Justus returns to the music scene with his latest single, “Cool Kids.”

An electro pop earworm on teenage anxiety, “Cool Kids” is unique in a sense that it flips the script. Instead of being a self-indulgent pity party, it is a defiant stance that “all the cool kids peaked in high school.”

“It’s basically a big shoutout to everybody that thought they were too cool to talk to anyone in high school and to all the ignorant people in my life,” he said.

Though “Cool Kids” can be seen as a sequel to “Bad Day,” Justus admitted that he didn’t think of it that way at first.

“If I did ‘Bad Day 2’ it would probably be a lot like ‘Cool Kids’ but I never really actually thought of it that way. I chose to drop this song after ‘Bad Day’ purely just because it is such a relatable song and it kinda fit the same vibe,” Growing up in Raleigh, North Carolina, Justus began by rapping with friends and working as a car salesman to pay the bills. He built a music studio in the laundry room of the house he shared with two other people.

He started making music about many mundane things, finding inspiration wherever he went.

“Just little things I notice throughout the day, I feel a lot of people can relate to, and I try to write songs about that to give people a sense of well-being and that they are not the only ones struggling with these things,” he said.

Eventually, Justus found a manager who brought him to

JUSTUS Bennetts

NYC to record and he debuted the song, “Nightstand,” which amassed two million views on Tiktok. It was highlighted on many New Music playlists on Spotify. Justus’ next single “Real Life Sux” debuted with even more social media buzz before hitting the satellite airwaves on Alt Nation and soaring to #8 on the US Viral Charts.

Justus continued his streak of hits with “Insomniac,” which he released last month and was quickly added to 13 radio stations. However, despite having his success on social media down to how well he understood the algorithm and the people behind it, Justus still marches to the beat of his own drum.

“Growing as an artist and growing up in general made me realize that I don’t need to focus of what people have to say, but a struggle with myself to figure out what I want to do,” Justus Bennetts’ “Cool Kids” and his other songs are available on major streaming platforms.

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soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | FEBRUARY 6, 2022

BUSINESS

SoundSampler

by Tony M. Maghirang

Five OPM singles plus new from Franz Ferdinand

SANDWICH

QUEENIE Smith (Photo by Jayd Ramos)

S

ANDWICH - “Curtains” SANDWICH released a new single “Curtains” last Friday as part of an EP. It’s a cheeky rock song about the end of the world.

The band continues to make music as the world bides its time to return to safely playing live.

When the pandemicinstigated lockdowns and quarantines finally hit in 2020, Sandwich was getting ready to release new music. They had hied off to Batangas and set up an ad hoc studio by the beach to record songs for a new album.

Sandwich managed to release “Buhol Buhol” before everything shut down. The band released a second single titled “No Goodbyes” with the help of Chicosci drummer Eco Del Rio, They had a chance to get back onstage in front of a live audience in November after restrictions were lifted and while short-lived, it was a happy reprieve to play in front of music fans. For Christmas 2020, they asked a bunch of friends from different bands to send videos for a cover of “Potluck”.

QUEENIE SMITH “Himig Natin” IT has been three years, on January 28 to be exact, since one of the most iconic figures in Pinoy rock passed away.

As a living proof of his legacy,

daughter Queenie Smith recently released her own rendition of Himig Natin, a song first popularized by Filipino pioneering rock band Juan de la Cruz fronted by Joey ‘Pepe’ Smith himself.

Singing emotionally and soulfully, Queenie Smith expresses her own feelings through the song. Going through the hauntingly beautiful melodies of a 49-year old OPM masterpiece, you can almost imagine the decades of music passing through as Queenie reminds us of the huge contributions of her late father.

PABLO-“La Luna” SB19’s PABLO embarks on his journey as a solo artist with the release of his debut single “La Luna” Composed and produced by the 27-year-old artist, the eclectic banger is all about freeing yourself from the need to meet society’s unrealistic expectations.

PABLO sums it up thus, “We all have flaws and we need to accept those imperfections because those are what make us who we are.” The prolific singersongwriter and producer adds, “To be mentally healthy, we need

to come to terms with ourselves, that what we feel is valid. We shouldn’t suppress it just so we can please everyone and avoid confrontation.”

Aiming for a grander, more cinematic-sounding track with “La Luna” the SB19 member reveals. “I always like the cinematic feeling that music scoring brings into movie scenes. It amplifies the emotion that is currently being portrayed.”

HALIK NI GRINGO“Home Alone” ALTERNATIVE metal outfit Halik Ni Gringo explores themes of social deprivation and paranoia during the pandemic on their comeback single “Home Alone”— the band’s first release since 2021’s “Injustice For All.” Written as a response to the challenges with the surge in Covid infections brought about by the latest Omicron variant, “Home Alone” documents a life of new normal with hardly any contact with your friends, family, and the people you normally interact with.

“It’s 2022 but it still feels like 2020,” says frontman Joey Santos.

“We’ve made huge strides as regards medicine and treating COVID, but progress in The Philippines continues to lag behind our Asian neighbors. The lyrics came quick - I felt like they’ve been swimming in my head the whole time under lockdown. All I needed to do was fish them out and put pen to paper.”

THE 28th - “Kinig” BACK to give a fresh start for 2022, Filipino synth/pop rock band The 28th releases Kinig.

With music produced by lead guitarist Carlo Cruz and words by drummer Cloy Salitrero, Kinig is written from the perspective of those people we go to for comfort.

Though it sounds romantic and sweet, the song also reveals what thoughts those people are afraid to admit or express.

Still, the message repeatedly comes across: “makikinig kahit malaman mo”, indicating that the person will continue listening to the other to provide comfort and solace.

FRANZ FEDINAND - ‘Curious’ FRANZ Ferdinand have shared the video for Curious, a brandnew recording featured on Hits To The Head, their 20-track greatest hits collection which will be released on Friday March 11th 2022.

Talking about the track, Alex Kapranos said, “What’s the meaning behind the song?

A meet-cute on the first page as tension enters left on a dark stage, but as our stars collide I’m curious: will you want me when you’ve got me? I’m a future seeker. Are we the future? I’m curious. I had this idea for the lyric - kind of the reverse of one of those life flashing before your mind as you die in a film scenes where the entire course of a relationship flashes before you the instant you fall in love with someone.”

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How to get what you want at your next job women are more likely to negotiate with themselves on jobs and compensation.

“Don’t go for what you think you can get,” she says. “Go for what you want.”

Do your research on compensation by talking to people in your network and on web sites such as Glassdoor. Chopra advises women to build a broad and diverse network for a better idea of salaries. “You have to be asking everyone not what they make, but what is the range for the position that you are looking for,” she says.

By Amrita Jayakumar

M

NerdWallet

illennials have long been at the mercy of economic events, from the Great Recession to crushing levels of student loan debt. But thanks to the Great Resignation that began in 2021, this generation is experiencing its first brush with power and opportunity in the job market.

Millennials are midcareer and have more negotiating power than their early days, says Carlota Zimmerman, who runs her own namesake career coaching firm in New York City. That plus a hot job market— some 10.6 million open positions as of November 2021, per the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics—is why exploring your career options right now is a smart move.

Before you start polishing your resume, here are tips from career coaches on being strategic with your job search, preparing for negotiations and asking for what you want.

GET CLARITY ON YOUR GOALS You might be ready for a change, but that doesn’t mean you should start applying for jobs right away.

Be clear about what you want before you

PLAN YOUR TALKING POINTS A hiring sign is placed at a booth for prospective employers during a job fair last year in the West Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Thanks to the Great Resignation that began in 2021, millennials are experiencing their first brush with power and opportunity. They are no longer early in their careers and are betterpositioned to negotiate for favorable jobs. AP start searching, Zimmerman says. List the pros and cons of your current job. What gave you satisfaction? What didn’t? This exercise will help you get a better idea of what you want the next job to look like, she says.

Next, drill down on the areas you identified.

Say you’ve realized you want more flexibility or a better work-life balance in a new role. Define what that looks like, says Dana Theus, executive coach at InPower Coaching in Alexandria, Virginia. Flexibility could mean working non-traditional hours, working remotely, coming into the office a couple of days a week or something else.

After you’ve fleshed out your goals, turn to job boards to research what people are recruiting for, Theus says.

Write down the parts of a job description that match your goals and gradually build your ideal job profile. You may not find the ideal job, but this will give you the confidence to articulate what you’re looking for to people in your professional network as well as during negotiations, she says.

GET INTO THE NEGOTIATION HEADSPACE Before entering a negotiation, know which terms you’re willing to discuss and which ones are absolutely off the table, Zimmerman says. “You have to have the courage to believe that what’s important to you is important to your company. If it’s not, then you’re going to need to find another company.”

Identify your non-negotiables, Zimmerman suggests, by asking yourself questions like: n Am I willing to take a lower salary if it means I could have more days to work from home? n Would I be OK taking fewer vacation days if I could have a flexible weekly schedule?

Write your answers on index cards that you can keep handy during interviews, she says. And before negotiations, silence your inner critic.

Karen Chopra, a career counselor at ChopraCareers in Washington, D.C., says

When you’re going through the interview process, virtually or in person, here are tips to keep in mind: n Bring up your terms early. Don’t wait until the final interview to bring up your must-haves, says Zimmerman. You can approach the subject as early as your first call with a recruiter. When asked if you have questions or concerns, reiterate why you’re excited about the position, she says, then mention that it’s also very important for you to be able to work remotely, for example. n Explain how your request benefits the company. If you’re asking for flexible work hours, for example, Theus recommends confidently stating that you know flexibility allows you to be more productive.

Then, you can spell out a benefit for the potential employer, such as, “I can be more committed to being available in emergencies if I have this flexibility,” she says. n Don’t over-explain. Whether you’re asking for work-from-home days or flexible hours, don’t feel like you have to share your life story, Zimmerman says. “Your desire to have time with your children, your partner, for health care, these are legal human rights.” If you’ve stated that your request allows you to do your job well and explained how it benefits the company, that’s good enough. The Associated Press

Just how passive is passive income?

T

he opportunity to make money while we sleep is one few of us would turn down. And passive income, at face value, suggests we can do just that.

Contrary to what the phrase suggests, however, you need to put in work in order to attain a truly “passive” income.

Investing money you inherited or won in a lottery may be the only path to truly passive income, start to finish. But for most of us, creating this new revenue stream will involve investing money made from more traditional means like a job, or investing our time building a source of income from the ground up.

Without a large initial financial investment, people often underestimate the “sweat equity” or time and energy required at the beginning, says Jannese Torres-Rodriguez, a Florida-based entrepreneur and creator of the “Yo Quiero Dinero” podcast.

“That initial workload, that time it’s going to take to get to a place where it’s passive, is what freaks a lot of people out and makes them think that, ‘Oh, well, this is obviously a scam because I just want to make money quickly,’” says Torres-Rodriguez.

For both Torres-Rodriguez and Pat Flynn, a California-based entrepreneur and

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creator of the “Smart Passive Income” podcast, it took at least a year. Both said that it took consistent work during that period before they started seeing money come from their blogs, including from affiliate marketing, ad revenue and selling courses, among other sources.

The amount of work upfront can depend on the income stream and what you want to get out of it. For instance, if you’re making income from rental properties, you can hire a person or a company to take care of all the property management. That’ll take away from your earnings, but putting in February 6, 2022

your own time will make the income more active than passive.

If you’re looking to make passive income, keep in mind it’s not guaranteed down the road—even if you do put in the work. There’s no promise your investment, whether that’s time or money, will pay off.

Inevitably, there is risk involved.

Seeing other peoples’ successes, or hearing about them, can trigger that fear of missing out on a good thing. But before you try to emulate them, consider the journey.

It’s not unattainable, but it won’t happen overnight. NerdWallet/AP